


Good to be Back

by HoodieHeda



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Medicinal Drug Use, shoot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-21
Updated: 2015-06-21
Packaged: 2018-04-05 10:31:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4176504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HoodieHeda/pseuds/HoodieHeda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Months after Root and Reese broke Shaw out of Decima HQ and after the fall of Samaritan, Sameen Shaw is back doing what she loves: shooting things and rolling her eyes at Root.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Good to be Back

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this almost finished on my laptop for like 4 months, and as a result it isn't really compliant with the last few episodes of season 4 (imagine it takes place sometime after 4x13, but diverges from canon after that). I hope you like it.

Shaw could feel a small smile forming on her face as she scrambled backwards and pressed against a pillar. Her hands moved swiftly to reload her gun as bullets slammed into the concrete. Chancing a glance around her cover to survey the underground parking lot, she saw Reese and Fusco crouched behind a car.

She had missed this. It was her first number since Root and Reese had broken her out of Samaritan’s headquarters, with a little help from Control. Shaw had said she was ready after a week, but Finch had insisted she rest for another month. At least until they were sure Samaritan was offline.

Shaw wasn’t sure anything could survive the destruction the team had wrought on the facility, though she doesn’t remember much. She had passed out before reaching the car, in Root’s arms of all places.

How embarrassing.

As if summoned by her thoughts, Root’s voice chimed in through her earpiece, “Hey sweetie, having fun?” Shaw darted out and sprinted across the lot as Reese and Fusco provided cover fire. She steadied her gun and shot an especially brave gunman in the shin before diving behind an SUV. She elected to ignore the slight twinge in her not entirely healed side.

“You know it. Care to fill us in on why our kindly ice-cream man is cowering behind an overturned truck while a gang fires semi-automatics at us?” Shaw spoke lowly but kept a hint of teasing to her voice; she wasn't at all upset about the current situation.

Root did not respond, but Shaw heard the loud revving of a powerful engine echoing around the walls, drowning out the gunfire. Poking her head above the bonnet of the car, she ducked a spray of bullets and returned fire. A downright sexy car screeched to a halt just metres from the SUV and the engine cut off.

Fusco’s voice came through her earpiece, “Is that cocoa puffs? Am I gonna end up writing a report on another one of her ‘borrowed’ sports cars?”

Shaw rolled her eyes, sending a few shots towards the remaining gang members who huddled behind their truck. The car door opened vertically and Root slid out, looking remarkably carefree to say a bullet just missed her by an inch. She returned fire and ran to crouch at Shaw's side, where she took the opportunity to load yet another clip into her gun.

"You do know there's no such thing as unlimited ammo, right?" Shaw asked in lieu of a greeting.

Root tilted her head and smiled _that smile_ at her, the one that is always entirely too soft and adoring for Shaw to handle.

It makes her want to punch something. Or kiss something. Whatever.

This is why she doesn’t do feelings.

“I don’t need unlimited ammo when I don’t miss Sameen.”

Shaw scoffed and shook her head, only just managing to contain her grin at Root’s arrogance.

“Just start shooting.”

Root elbowed her gently and gave a little mock salute, “Yes commander.”

Shaw didn’t restrain her smile.

This woman.

* * *

Reese saw Root skid into the parking lot, and watched as she sauntered to join Shaw, seemingly un-phased by the hail of bullets that followed her.

Reese took down another gang member, a bullet tearing into his shoulder and sending him careering to the concrete. He looked to his left to check on the number, who had escalated from merely whimpering behind the truck, to crying hysterically against it.

_‘That’s what happens when you sell drugs out of your ice-cream truck, Gary’_

He heard Fusco grumbling something about stolen car reports and having to clean all this up, but his attention was fixed on the SUV Shaw and Root had disappeared behind. He rolled his eyes as he heard them flirting through the comms.

He knew Shaw would deny it even under torture, but she gave as good as she got with Root.

“Yes commander.” Reese smirked a little, and was about to remind them they had a number to save when he saw a hand emerge from behind the SUV and throw what he recognised as a grenade towards the gang.

As he and Fusco ducked for cover, he heard Shaw’s voice filter through the earpiece, “Where were you even hiding that?”

“I’ll show you later Sam.”

Fusco turned to Reese as the building shook from the explosion, “So what’s going on with Lucky Charms and Lieutenant Loco?” They both turned to watch as the two women emerged from the SUV and began shooting into the rubble, picking off remaining gang members. Root had positioned herself just behind Shaw, and was shooting with one gun around her shoulder.

“While I appreciate your somewhat plucky nicknames Lionel, I’m not sure Shaw would share the sentiment. And I’m not entirely sure what you mean.” Realising Root and Shaw had a firm hand on the situation, and Root a firm hand on Shaw’s ass, Reese made his way over to the number and hefted the man to his feet.

“Who _are_ you people?”

Reese opened his mouth to answer, but Fusco beat him to it, “A concerned third party,” The detective then turned to Reese, “and you never answered my question.”

Reese turned to look at the women in question, watching as Root provided some cover fire for Shaw to approach the remaining assailant from behind and hit him over the head with a slab of concrete. This particular method of attack prompted Root to send a blinding smile towards Shaw.

Reese looked back at Fusco, “What? I didn’t think you were being serious detective, they _did_ kiss in front of you at the Stock Exchange.”

Fusco squinted slightly, “Well yeah, but women are different, all mysterious and touchy and stuff. I thought it was a gal pals type deal.”

Reese smiled, “Sure Lionel. Gal pals. Let’s get Gary here to his apartment, and you can ask Shaw all about it.”

[BREAK]

Shaw brushed the concrete dust off her fingers and began zip-tying the fallen gang members with the zip-ties from her pocket. Root emerged from behind the pillar and took a few of the zip-ties to help, but not before whispering in her ear, “Just like old times.”

She snorted and started tying up another shooter while speaking through the comms to Reese, “How’s Gary? Was that his wailing I heard or did Fusco finally lose his already thin grip on sanity?”

She heard Reese laugh and Root prodded her, but Fusco grouched, “Yeah, you’re welcome for the backup. Sometimes I daydream about how much easier my life would be if I just arrested the lot of you.”

“But who would bring the fun into your life then Lionel?”

“I had plenty of fun before you people.”

Root interjected, “It’s because of me that you have connections with the FBI-“

“You’re not even a real FBI agent!”

“-and I think you’ll find I had Sameen’s back just fine.”

Shaw heard John cough, and while it sounded like he was masking a laugh, she couldn’t be sure. She watched as Root tied up the last of the gang, and wandered across the empty lot towards Reese and Fusco.

“You two dealing with this one? I have cold beer and day old takeout waiting for me at my apartment, wouldn’t want to be late.”

Root wrinkled her nose, “Or we could go back to the subway and I’ll get you a sandwich on the way. One with _all_ the condiments.”

Shaw eyed Root out the corner of her eye as they walked up the exit ramp and judged her sincerity, “with-“

“Extra mustard and a lashing of Louisiana hot sauce? Of course.”

Shaw grinned, “Lead the way.”

* * *

True to her word, Root had bought her the sandwich _and_ a large portion of fries, which she was finishing off as they entered the subway station. Root had this habit of staring at her as she ate, or played with Bear, or anything really, and it had only become more frequent since she was rescued.

Shaw didn’t point it out.

Finch stood up from his desk to greet her as Bear ran enthusiastically into her legs, “I just got word from Mr Reese; Detective Fusco has delivered the particularly unpleasant gang members to the police station, and the number is recuperating at home. John is making his way here, I believe he wanted to pick up some treats for Bear.”

Shaw nodded in response, and gave Bear’s fur one last ruffle before making her way to the cot in the corner of the subway. As the adrenaline wore off, she felt her strength leave her, and she sat down heavily on the mattress. Her months in Samaritan’s ‘care’ had left her weaker than she would like to admit, and all she wanted were some pain tablets for her side and some sleep.

Root slid off the desk where she had been messing around on Finch’s laptop – much to his distress - and took a calculating look at Shaw before heading inside the carriage. She walked back out less than a minute later, a bottle of water and some stolen pills in her hand. She sat down next to Shaw, bumping their shoulders together playfully and handing her the pills, “You know, after everything poor Gary’s been through, maybe you shouldn’t be popping the pills…”

Shaw caught the playful glint in her and eye rolled her eyes. She swallowed the drugs down with a swig of water, and stretched out on the cot, waiting for the pain to be dulled.

* * *

In hindsight, maybe she should have looked at the side effects of the drugs Root gave her. Or questioned what they were at all, really.

Shaw looked around the subway and squinted.

She was pretty sure, like 99.987654321% sure, that the room was pulsing different colours.

Also there were floating orbs.

They were fucking everywhere.

She glared hard at one of them, a bright red one.

It was just floating there, in front of her face.

Taunting her.

She flung an arm out, stretching her side in the process and causing a dull throb of pain to flare.

“Owwwww” Shaw rolled onto her back on the cot, pulling her knees to her chest.

She rolled again.

She was concentrating on rolling once more to the other side, but a soft voice interrupted her scheming, “Sweetie? What are you doing?”

Shaw froze.

She was perched on the side of the bed and looking at her with a half smile on her face.

Unfairly pretty.

Rude, even.

Shaw manoeuvred onto her knees and shuffled closer to Root, knees bumping her thigh as she leaned in close to her face.

Root looked confused but smiled a little wider.

“Sam, are you okay? You seem a little…” Root watched as Shaw became very briefly fixated on a spec of dust floating by her face, “…distracted.”

Shaw leaned in and pushed her nose against Root’s cheek, “No, _you’re_ distracted. Nerd.”

Root nodded slowly, the close proximity allowing her to take in Shaw’s dilated pupils.

“Okay honey, why don’t you lie back and have a little nap?”

Shaw’s eyes moved to lock with hers again from where they had been watching her fingers walk up Root’s thigh.

“Maybe _you_ should have a nap.”

Root sighed.

* * *

Reese whistled softly to himself as he nudged to door to the subway station open with her shoulder, swinging the bag of dog treats around. He heard Root’s laughter from one corner of the station and was about to look when a soft cough to his left caught his attention. He turned to see Finch’s head popping up at the window of the carriage, and he was gesturing rather frantically for Reese to come closer.

Reese frowned and stopped whistling, softening his footsteps as he entered the carriage, and ducking down at Finch’s desk.

“John, thank goodness, I’m trapped.”

Reese raised an eyebrow and scanned Finch, noting how completely free and _not_ trapped he was.

“Finch, did someone slip you something again?”

Harold sighed in the way he always did when he felt Reese was missing something and replied lowly, “Mr Reese, unfortunately for me, it isn’t I who is feeling the high this time. It appears Ms Shaw is experiencing some of the more _extreme_ side effects of some rather potent painkillers.”

Reese’s eyes widened and stood up to look towards the corner of the station, where he saw both Shaw and Root in various states of undress, along with Bear who was napping a few metres away. The image was still burning in his brain even as Finch yanked him back down by his arm.

“What the fuck is going on Finch?”

Harold grimaced, “Ms Shaw was not in the napping mood once the painkillers took effect, and instead elected to play strip poker. To her credit, Ms Groves resisted the idea, but as we know-“

“Root can’t say no to Shaw.”

Finch nodded, “Indeed. It would be endearing if not for the fact I’m now trapped here without my laptop as two women I have come to see as family lie in a state of undress between myself and the exit.”

Reese squinted, “So you thought you’d trap us both instead?”

Finch winced, “I… yes that’s exactly what I did isn’t it?”

Rolling his eyes, Reese stood up and made his way to the door of the carriage, despite Finch hissing protests at his back. Stepping onto the platform, Reese approached the mat where both Shaw sat in her underwear, with Root sat against her in an unbuttoned shirt without pants.

Reese sighed; he really liked knowing as little as possible about his pseudo-little sister’s sex life.

Shaw was frowning at her cards as Root looked on adoringly, and only the hacker looked up when he cleared his throat above them.

“Hello John, nice of you to join us.”

Reese thought they had differing definitions of the word ‘nice’, but decided to let it slide.

“Close game?”

Root laughed, “Not even a little bit; she keeps fist pumping every time she gets a good hand, and pouting every time she gets garbage.”

Reese nodded slowly, “So you’re… half naked for fun?”

Root raised a hand to run her fingers through Shaw’s hair, “I didn’t want to take advantage of her somewhat compromised state, plus the more clothes I take off, the more distracted she gets and the longer we can go before playing another hand. She stared at my legs for 5 minutes earlier. I’m hoping she gets sleepy soon, I’m getting cold.”

Shaw snorted next to her as she looked up from her cards to stare at Root’s chest, “I can see that.”

Root blushed and looked at Reese apologetically for the first time in her life. Reese was already wondering how long it would take to cleanse himself of this experience when he saw Finch miming emphatically from the carriage out of the corner of his eye.

Right, trapped.

“Listen, not to spoil your fun, but Harold has been hiding on the floor of the carriage since you two started doing… whatever this is. So if you could find a way to have your fun with more clothes on, it would be appreciated.”

Root looked over to the window where Finch had popped up, “Sorry Harry, I’ll get her back to our apartment, I think she’s mostly over it now anyway.”

With that she started buttoning her shirt back up – resulting in an annoyed grumble from Shaw – and wriggling her jeans back up her legs. She stood up and dusted non-existent dirt off her jeans before reaching down to help up a suddenly very drowsy Shaw.

“You gonna be able to get her home okay?”

Root nodded absentmindedly as she batted Shaw’s hands away from her shirt and pulled a hoodie over the shorter woman’s head, “Scouts honor.”

Reese couldn’t believe she’d ever been a girl scout in her life, and his face clearly showed his disbelief.

Root grinned, “When I was 16 I blackmailed one of the leaders for a few weeks, it’s surprising how they fund all of those cookies.”

John elected to never ask – as he did often with Root – and whistled for Bear to follow him back towards the carriage as Root led Shaw out of the station.

* * *

Shaw groaned and buried her face further into her pillow as she woke up. Opening her eyes, she realised she was on the couch in her apartment with the football game on. Blinking repeatedly, she found her ‘pillow’ was Root’s lap, and said woman was messing on her phone with one hand as she scratched Shaw’s head with the other.

Shaw stretched, “you a Cowboys fan?”

Root tossed her phone aside and stared down at her, “not at all, Texas doesn’t hold many pleasant memories for me. You insisted we watch it, you wouldn’t lie down otherwise.”

Shaw winced as she remembered the past few hours, “Don’t think I don’t realise you were cheating at poker earlier.”

“It’s not my fault you become so animated when you’re high.”

Shaw rolled her eyes and sat up, “I’m starving.”

Root smiled widely, “I just ordered some take-out, should be here soon. How’s your side?”

Shaw twisted a little and pressed her hand over the scar, “Not too bad, it’s been worse.”

Root looked to the side with a grimace, “Believe me, I remember.”

Shaw watched her for a minute in silence before biting her lip.

Talking really isn’t her thing.

“I know I’ve said thanks for… you know, helping me escape and all, but really, thank you.”

Root smiled and they didn’t speak for a few moments before Shaw spoke again,

“I mean, I had it covered, but it was nice of you to show up.”

“Well John is far less fun to flirt with Sameen, I did it for my own sanity really.”

Shaw raised an eyebrow, “says the woman who got committed.”

“Details, Sam, Details.”


End file.
